The Knicks may be short on speed and athleticism with their role players, but it’s evident already that they’re a significantly smarter team than they have been in the past. Spacing has always been an issue on Carmelo Anthony led teams – particularly when Amar’e Stoudemire shares the floor with him. Tonight, however, the Knicks spaced the floor perfectly and actually gave Anthony room to operate from the high post and on the block. The result? New York knocked down an incredible 19 3-pointers, the area where Miami’s juggernaut team defense is most susceptible.

Of course, floor spacing doesn’t mean much without great passing, but the Knicks had that in spades. Even though Anthony’s final stats might not show it (30 points, 10-for-28 shooting, 2 assists), he was a willing passer and had a handful of kickout passes that led to hockey assists. Steve Novak, who may be the best shooter in basketball, was often the beneficiary of great swing passes to the corner (17 points, 5-for-8 from deep). Heck, even J.R. Smith caught the passing bug as a slash and kick player, and finished with 6 of the Knicks 27 assists.

As effective as the offense was, give the defense some credit, too. It’s not easy to hold down a team like Miami, but there was a surprising lack of defensive lapses from the Knicks tonight. Wade (15 points) and James (23) got going a bit at times, but Miami’s role players were almost completely neutralized. Instead of over-helping on Wade and James and leaving shooters alone, the Knicks played the two stars straight up for the most part, aided by having a serious rim protector in Tyson Chandler behind them. Again, that’s smart basketball.

For years now, the Knicks have been assembled like a fantasy basketball team. They were a bunch of individual talents who got their individual stats, and that was it. And although that culture won’t change with one game, and there are still some fit concerns once Stoudemire comes back, it’s nice to think that after years of selfish basketball, the Knicks are finally grown up.

In fact, in Saturday’s dunk contest, he didn’t look like a dunker at all.

The Pacers star missed all three attempts of his first dunk, and a Black Panther mask was by far the biggest draw of his second. Oladipo was eliminated after the first round.

Maybe Dennis Smith Jr. wasn’t the only eliminated dunker who left something in his bag. This Oladipo dunk – 180 degrees, throwing ball off the backboard with his left hand while in mid-air, dunking with his right hand – while preparing in Los Angeles was awesome.

A statement released Wednesday by the NFL and NBA clubs says their 90-year-old owner is resting comfortably at Ochsner Medical Center, a hospital which also serves as a major sponsor and which owns naming rights to the teams’ training headquarters.

Benson has owned the New Orleans Saints since 1985 and bought the New Orleans Pelicans in 2012.

In recent years, Benson has overhauled his estate plan so that his third wife, Gayle, would be first in line to inherit control of the two major professional franchises.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said he’d be surprised if Kawhi Leonard played again this season, a stark reversal from just a month ago. Back then, even while announcing Leonard was out indefinitely with a quad injury, the San Antonio coach said Leonard wouldn’t miss the rest of the season.

After spending 10 days before the All-Star break in New York consulting with a specialist to gather a second opinion on his right quad injury, All-NBA forward Kawhi Leonard bears the burden of determining when he’s prepared to play again, sources told ESPN.

Leonard has been medically cleared to return from the right quad tendinopathy injury, but since shutting down a nine-game return to the Spurs that ended Jan. 13, he has elected against returning to the active roster, sources said.

The uncertainty surrounding this season — and Leonard’s future which could include free agency in the summer of 2019 — has inspired a palpable stress around the organization, league sources said.

At first glance, this sounds like Derrick Rose five years ago. Even after he was cleared to play following a torn ACL, the then-Bulls star remained mysterious about when he’d suit up. His confidence in his physical abilities seemed to be a major issue, and he was never the same player since (suffering more leg injuries).

But the Spurs famously favor resting players to preserve long-term health. They seem unlikely to rush back Leonard. They might even sit players who want to play more often. And Leonard isn’t Rose.

Still, it’s clear something is amiss in San Antonio. Maybe not amiss enough to end Leonard’s tenure there, but the longer this lingers, the more time for tension to percolate.